Daily Lesson for May 9, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Ephesians chapter 3 verses 4 through 6:

4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

In the New Testament Epistles Paul uses the word "mystery" 21 times.  It was the word he reached for again and again to explain his ministry beyond the walls of his religious upbringing and tradition.  "Mystery" for Paul meant something which was at one time hidden but has by divine revelation now been made known.  And the mystery made known to Paul was the inclusion of the Gentiles in the Gospel, a revelation which was shaking the foundations of many of the Jewish communities where Paul visited and preached.

The time in which we now live is a time of great revelation. Mysteries kept hidden for long ages are now being revealed -- mysteries about race and about gender and about personhood. When church historians look back on this era they will see it as a time of seismic shifting, as seemingly firm foundations are shaken by a greater revelation as to the full meaning of Paul's vision of there being in Christ "neither slave not free, Jew nor Gentile, male nor female."  This is the mystery of Christ now unfolding in our times.  It was not made known in its fullness in earlier generations, but is now being made known in ours.

"May you live in interesting times," is the ancient Chinese curse. Curse or blessing, we are certainly living in interesting times. For as the United Church of Christ has said, "God is still speaking." God is still speaking, and revealing, and making known what was once comfortably hidden.

Is it any wonder then why the charge against the early Church was that they were "turning the world upside down"?  When there is a shift in terra firma it always feels like that.

"And they who endure to the end shall be saved."